Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1993 16:53:12 +0700
From: Gwyn Williams
Subject: Aches and Pains
Hello t'all and compliments of the season. A query:
Thai learners of English consistently pronounce the word "headache"
as [hedeetS] and "stomach ache" as [stoma:tS eetS] (these being
approximate transcriptions of the Thai pronunciations). I had always
assumed that these were spelling pronunciations. However, in a recent
article about World Englishes in a local newspaper, it was said that
Hongkong English speakers also pronounce "headache" in a similar manner.
Is this just the coincidence of spelling pronunciations? Or does it
reflect an older or "non-standard" pronunciation of English? My
dictionary gives OE acan for "ache". I am aware that represented
a velar stop in OE, but that this sound was palatalized, but only before
front vowels, eg., OE cild "child". Were "stomach" and "ache" ever
palatalized? Or does any particular accent palatalize these words?
BTW my dictionary gives only Gk stomachos as the source for "stomach".
How is the pronounced?
Regards
Mr Gwyn Williams
Thammasat University
Bangkok